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Chapter 22 - Light Em Up (TCOK)
"We lost Clam." Tubba returned to the base, his tail dragging along in the dirt. "You LOST Clam?" Shaye exclaimed, having come up the wooden stairs to greet her returning crewmates. "How does one simply LOSE Clam?" "That's what I said!" Tubba snarled, instantly seized by a wave of anger. He had said it once, why did Shaye feel the need for having him to repeat it? Tarz stood between him and Shaye. "Calm down, Tubba. That won't help. I know you feel some personal guilt for letting Clam go, but he knew what he was doing. Our job now is to get the SS Mahruav into the secret port." "Speaking of which, how is this base? All I've seen so far are these dingy stairs, that are made of wood that sounds like it'll crack at any second," stated Tubba. Tarz exchanged a glance with Mud, "I think you'll be surprised by what you see." Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Tubba heard a clean "thuk!" signifying that rather than stepping on more wood, they had reached marble. While he was pondering what the base would look like, he was half-listening to Tarz explain that there was a second door, reinforced with steel and opened only through a hatch, and would be opened with a code(6732), for security purposes, if someone uninvited ever got through the trapdoor. When the door opened, Tubba's mouth gaped. Rather than something similarly dingy to the stairwell and what he had expected, it was a carefully built white marble hallway, with more than enough breadth to fit seven Clubbas side by side, and at least five times as tall as the average Clubba. Dotted along the hallway were rooms, with mahogany doors that rivalled the careful craftsmanship of the Clubba Kingdom. The roofs had artificial lights spread all around their top, casting a white, watery glow down on the crew members. The amount of time and effort it would have taken to construct this... whoever built this had a lot of resources, time, and guts. "Right, let's head down to the secret port," grunted Tarz, "and fix your mouth," he added to Tubba, who shut his mouth, reddening. Shutting his mouth and following Tarz, with Mud and Shaye close behind, still looking around in awe at the beautifully crafted building. "You'd never know this was here if you were aboveground," he remarked, glancing at Tarz, who just shrugged. "It keeps us protected down here, that's for sure. This thing was built for 15,000 people, so when we're at just 30-some, I think we'll be fine when it comes to living space." "How was it built for 15,000 people?" Tubba questioned, curious to know how such a space could hold so many people. "This isn't the only floor," explained Tarz, while tapping in the code to another door similar to the one they had entered the base with. "There are 3,000 rooms that can hold five people each, with eleven floors. That's 300 rooms a floor, and you saw how close together the rooms were. Then, on this floor, the eleventh, we have the high-ranking rooms, that can hold another 30-40 people. And we also have this," he said, pulling open the door. "Woah." That was all Tubba could say. He was once again instantly captivated by the sheer guts of the project. It was a giant cavern, the rock wall stretching high above his head. Below him was a giant expanse of water, that could easily hold nine or ten extremely large ships. Directly ahead of him was a rock wall that was so smooth it simply could not have been there naturally. There were wooden ports connecting the rock to the water, terminating where Tubba guessed the ships would lay anchor. "Wait, you haven't seen it all," Mud informed him, and Tubba glanced at him. What more could this base have? "We have to get the SS Mahruav in somehow." Watching Tarz leap up a couple ledges up to a lever, he pulled it back with a gasp of exertion. Then, suddenly, a rumbling noise began from underneath Tubba's feet. Is this an earthquake? Shocked, he dropped onto all fours, as suddenly the rock wall in front of him, the one that had seemed unnaturally smooth, began lifting up out of the water, water tumbling off it. The rock wall continued rising, grating loudly through the cavern, until with a boom, it settled into a new spot. Shaye piped up, "So that's how we get the SS Mahruav in?" Tubba realized this would have been her first time seeing that as well. A new, unfamiliar voice snarled: "No, that's how you give away your location." Spinning around, Tubba nearly fell off the rock in shock once again when he was facing the same group of Iglators who had kidnapped Clam, clearly having just entered through the doorway. "How'd you get in?!" Tarz snapped, clearly not expecting to have uninvited guests so soon, "did you follow us?" "There's no need to follow you when it's quite obvious why you left that other on to fight us alone. We knew there was a secret base somewhere around here," the lead Iglator described, his face smug, "so we simply dropped off your friend, and then came over here, solved how to get in, solved the code, and then with the racket you guys were making, it was quite obvious where you were. Simple." Tubba had stopped listening after the lead Iglator had said 'dropped off your friend.' "Clam!" Tubba spat, "where is he?" "You'll see him soon enough. After all, you're going to the same place." The lead Iglator riposted, and with a flick of his tail, the five other Iglators began to close in on the pitiful group of the SS Mahruav. Although rage was instantly swamping him, leaving him with a desire to go down fighting, with the rational side of his brain, he knew that four of them, even if he was a Clubba, had no chance at taking on the Iglators, much like he and Clam. "Run!" Tarz whispered, his voice tense, "I'll hold them off!" "No!" Tubba countered, "I'm not leaving another crew member behind!" He had been ready for Tarz to act all brave and hope for the others to run, but this time, he wasn't going to run away like a coward. He would go down fighting, and take as many of them with him. As the Iglators got closer, a sudden orange blaze raced past the crew members and exploded onto the lead Iglator, knocking him backwards a couple steps. Then, realizing what was happening, Tubba shouted: "Duck! We've got reinforcements!" The sound of the rounds firing from the cannons were combined with the enraged shrieks of the Iglators, breaking into the previous peace and tranquility of the cavern. But tuning all of that out, Tubba sent silent thanks to the Star Spirits. The crew -and the SS Mahruav- had arrived at the right time.